Triumphs and failures on a window ledge.

Love this picture of a Livingstone Daisy (Mesembryanthemum) in full bloom. This only happens when it’s really sunny and mine in particular seem to want there to be long unbroken periods of sun before they’re willing to risk it. Even on a good day that’s a big ask.

This will maybe prove to be a bit of a jinx but the weather continues to be a huge help to my one foot wide garden. The sun (and showers) are very welcome, the warmth (but not stiffling heat) are helpful and most importantly, the calm airflow is a godsend. Even minor breezes can wreak havoc on a window box but through some good plant selection (only the nasturtiums rise above 18 inches and they can be persuaded to try a different route) and better luck every box is brimming over with flowers and foliage. When I get a chance I’ll take a few photos from street level to show how well everything is doing from down there. (more…)

Here’s a little photo show plotting the progress of my newest window box. Made with a old plastic container I originally bought before I realised just how big my window ledges actually are. It looked oddly out of place so I bought some bigger deeper boxes and this got used as storage for a few months.

When I realised I’d overbought in the plant department it seemed like an ideal time to press this box back into service. And the bathroom ledge is smaller so it doesn’t look so out of place there.

In late May when there were still gaps in some of the window boxes and it didn’t look like my nursery was going to provide any help the call of the garden centres became too much. As is the case when you food shop on an empty stomach and end up buying far more than you need, the same is true of plant shopping.

Having looked around my favourite garden centre the temptation to buy a couple of different plants was too much, even though I knew I really only needed six or eight plants to fill all the gaps.

After using all I needed this gave me about half a dozen Livingstone Daisies spare along with a couple of bright pink trailing petunias. As I was rooting about in my gardening box I remembered that I had a spare container that had been my first purchase last year. However I hadn’t ended up using it as it was much shallower and smaller than the ledges needed. (more…)

OK. So. I’m feeling a little guilty. Maybe a bit like the homebaking contestant who turns up with a magnificent shop-bought cake?

Eventually I succumbed to the attraction of all those lovely, lush, healthy looking garden centre plants. Even though we all know that beauty is only leaf-deep, poor Chris needed pepping-up and they looked so right just sitting there in their neat rows of polystyrene. Instant solutions, available for such a small price.

Excuses, excuses! I know! Still, I can justify and rationalise it ’til the cows come home. Summer is so short, sometimes a bit of an artificial boost is what’s needed. No? And why not take advantage of the long light days and make sure there’s a bit of colour over the next couple of weeks – weather permitting.

So now Chris has some lovely petunias and a whole host of Livingstone daisies (mesembryanthemum for the more formal among us. This always sounds like a pre-historic period to me. Just after the dinosaurs, came the mesembryanthemum period where the world was populated by daisies!), which are odd looking, rubbery leaved-things but have nice colourful flowers. Just the job for a sunny window sill – even if they haven’t been ‘home-reared’!

P.S. Having to water everything twice a day at the moment as it’s so consistently hot!

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The Cast

Six window boxes, each with their own unique personality.
Chris: The philosophical loner with a rough edge - currently a mix of orange winter pansies, lobelia left over from summer and a dianthus that isn't sure what it's doing. Spring bulbs are a mystery.
Shelly: Perky and down-to-earth. Currently displaying a fertile group of purple mini cyclamen.
Holling: The hard worker - got all the leftovers during summer but is now just showing a mix of red and purple mini cyclamen.
Ed: Part mystic, part sage, part healer - a mix of winter pansy, lobelia and dianthus, much like Chris but scrappier.
Maggie: Queen of the confused - The one lobelia that really grew, a constantly flowering pink mini cyclamen, a hardy variegated ivy, a white and a yellow pansy and some pathetic looking winter pansies which probably won't make it to Xmas.
Joel: Ever the show-off and yet just as confused as Maggie - white viola, purple pansy, red mini cyclamen and orange winter pansy.